India, led by Shreyas Iyer, begin T20I series against New Zealand in Christchurch

India, captained by Shreyas Iyer, start the five-match Twenty20 International series against New Zealand at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday. The visitors arrive with a tight schedule and limited recovery time and will aim to open the tour with a win.

New Zealand have assembled a pace-rich pool for the expected conditions, with Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson and Blair Tickner among the seam options available to captain Mitchell Santner. Santner warned conditions will vary across venues and said: "If there is something in the pitch for the seamers to start, it's obviously nice, but throughout the series we're going around the country, they're not all going to be green seamers and flying around. So both teams are going to have to adapt quickly to the conditions and then play accordingly," Santner said. He also suggested that offering flat pitches to India's power-packed batting line-up may not be the best approach and will hope his own big-hitters, including Glenn Phillips and Finn Allen, can match the visitors.

India's squad for the tour reads: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav. Veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has returned after nearly four years and mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy is back after regaining fitness; both inclusions are presented as potential solutions to India's bowling concerns. All-rounder Hardik Pandya remains unavailable through injury and Jasprit Bumrah is not part of the T20I squad, with plans for him to play only in the ODI and Test legs of the tour. Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson were singled out for strong performances in India's recent home series against the West Indies while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is expected to be on the bench.

Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan sits on the cusp of two milestones: he needs 46 runs to reach 2,000 T20I runs and is close to surpassing Suryakumar Yadav's mark for most T20I runs by an Indian in a calendar year, and he will get his first opportunity of the series in Christchurch. Only four batters in India's current squad have prior T20I experience in New Zealand — Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube. Young hitters Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma and 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi add firepower to the lineup but will need to adapt to the nippy conditions that can assist seam bowling.

India's bowling unit is viewed as an area for improvement by the captain; Iyer has acknowledged that the bowling needs work. His tenure as India captain opened with consecutive defeats in Ireland and England, and New Zealand under Mitchell Santner will aim to exert pressure on Iyer and his side. India travel to New Zealand after securing gold for the second successive time at the Asian Games and completing a hard-fought drawn home series against the West Indies.

India have had barely two days to rest, adjust and train since finishing their previous commitments, and face a pace-friendly challenge in Christchurch. India's most recent T20I on New Zealand soil was in 2022 at Napier, a rain-affected match that finished level under the Duckworth-Lewis method; India still won that tour's series after claiming victory in the only fixture not affected by bad weather. The visitors have won their last two T20I series in New Zealand and will aim to extend that run.

The match at Hagley Oval is the opening fixture of the five-match T20I series; the tour will continue afterwards with a five-match ODI series and two Tests.